Motorola is making a bid to dominate the sub-Rs. 30,000 smartphone market in India with its new Edge series. The Motorola Edge 20, priced at Rs. 29,999, promises impressive performance, a high-refresh rate display, superior cameras, and 5G support. But is the Motorola Edge 20 truly the best choice in this competitive category? We put it to the test to find out.
Motorola Edge 20 Price in India
The Motorola Edge 20 is available in India for Rs. 29,999, offering a single configuration of 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. You can choose between two color options: Frosted Pearl and Frosted Emerald.
Motorola Edge 20 Design
The Motorola Edge 20 is a sleek and stylish smartphone with a rectangular, slim, and tall design that fits comfortably in your hand. Weighing 163g, it’s relatively lightweight. The front is dominated by a 6.7-inch display with a camera hole at the top and thin bezels that give it a premium appearance. The aluminum alloy frame feels robust and sturdy.
Motorola has placed the power and volume buttons on the right side, with the latter positioned slightly higher than ideal. The power button incorporates a fingerprint scanner and offers a satisfyingly tactile click. A dedicated Google Assistant button is located on the opposite side of the frame. Both the top and bottom of the frame are flat, with the top housing the secondary microphone and the bottom featuring the USB Type-C port, primary microphone, speaker, and SIM tray.
The back of the Motorola Edge 20 is made of plastic and attracts smudges easily, although a transparent case is included in the box. The prominent camera module with its three-step design protrudes significantly, causing the phone to rock when placed on a flat surface. Despite the large display, the phone’s lightweight design ensures comfortable handling, The Edge 20 also boasts an IP52 rating, making it splash-resistant. Motorola includes a 30W TurboPower charger in the box.
Motorola Edge 20 Specifications
Motorola has packed the Edge 20 with impressive hardware within its slim body.
- The phone features a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a full-HD+ resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. Motorola claims a 576Hz peak touch sampling rate for this panel, providing a smooth and responsive touch experience. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and boasts HDR10+ certification and DC dimming.
- Powering the Motorola Edge 20 is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G SoC, paired with 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. This processor makes the Edge 20 one of the few smartphones in India to launch with this powerful chip.
- Connectivity options include support for multiple 5G bands, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6e, NFC, and six satellite navigation systems.
- The phone is equipped with a 4,000mAh battery supporting fast charging and comes with a 30W TurboPower charger.
Motorola Edge 20 Performance
The Motorola Edge 20 delivers smooth and responsive performance, thanks to the powerful Snapdragon 778G SoC. Multitasking is seamless, and there are no noticeable load times. The refresh rate can be set automatically or locked at 60Hz or 144Hz, with the latter providing a noticeably fluid scrolling experience. The AMOLED display boasts impressive viewing angles and customizable color output. The single bottom-firing speaker is loud but tends to sound tinny at higher volumes. Unlocking the device with the side-mounted fingerprint scanner or face recognition is both quick and reliable.
Benchmarking results indicate that the Snapdragon 778G performs well. In AnTuTu, it achieved 524,175 points, slightly lower than the 583,748 points achieved by the OnePlus Nord 2 (Dimensity 1200 SoC). In Geekbench 5, the Motorola Edge 20 scored 769 in the single-core benchmark and 2,768 in the multi-core benchmark. In GFXBench’s T-Rex and Car Chase tests, the Edge 20 managed 109fps and 29fps, respectively. In 3DMark Slingshot, it scored 6,449 points.
Gaming performance is impressive. Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) runs smoothly on the Edge 20 with HD graphics and High frame rate settings, without any lag or stutter. Motorola’s Gametime feature lets you silence calls and notifications, add app shortcuts, and enable "high performance mode" for gaming. The Acoustic Lights option illuminates the edges of the screen during gaming, highlighting the origin of sounds to help you locate enemies more quickly.
The 4,000mAh battery, chosen to maintain the phone’s slim profile, provides enough juice for a day of typical usage. However, for heavy users, it will require charging in the morning. In our HD video loop test, the Edge 20 lasted 13 hours and 19 minutes, slightly below average. The 30W TurboPower charger allows the phone to reach 65 percent in 30 minutes and 94 percent in an hour.
Motorola Edge 20 Cameras
The Motorola Edge 20 boasts a quad-camera setup, despite having only three lenses. The rear cameras consist of a 108-megapixel primary sensor, a 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera with macro capabilities, and an 8-megapixel 3X telephoto camera with optical image stabilization (OIS). Digital zoom extends up to 30X. The front houses a 32-megapixel selfie shooter within the display hole.
The camera app is user-friendly and offers a variety of shooting modes.
The 108-megapixel primary camera captures 12-megapixel images by default. In daylight, images are detailed, and objects at a distance are readily recognizable. However, dynamic range could be better, sometimes leading to overexposed skies. HDR is aggressive in bright scenes, but darker areas lose detail. The ultra-wide-angle camera captures 12-megapixel images and exhibits minor distortion at the edges, with details not as sharp as those from the primary sensor. However, this camera performs well in HDR.
The 3X telephoto camera is useful for capturing distant objects, producing images with decent details. OIS minimizes blur caused by shakes. Images captured at 30X digital zoom display a watercolor effect.
Selfies captured with the 32-megapixel camera are detailed and impressive in both daylight and low-light conditions. The phone supports portrait mode and delivers good background depth.
Video recording is capped at 4K for both the primary and selfie cameras. While shooting at 1080p, you can switch between different cameras on the fly. Daylight footage recorded at both 4K and 1080p is stabilized. However, low-light footage captured while walking shows a noticeable shimmer.
Verdict
The sub-Rs. 30,000 smartphone market is becoming increasingly crowded with 5G devices from various manufacturers. The Motorola Edge 20 enters this arena armed with a powerful Snapdragon 778G processor. This phone prioritizes aesthetics, offering a slim and lightweight design. However, this design choice comes at the cost of battery longevity. If you prioritize a slim profile or a smartphone offering a clean, bloatware-free Android experience, the Motorola Edge 20 is a solid option for its price.
